Some Commentary on The Lord of the Rings or One More Reason To Love This Guy Tom McRae's self-titled debut album was probably the best purchase I made with some of the money I received this past Christmas. (Interesting side note - Like last year's best discovery artist, this album only cost me $4 used.) But this journal entry from his website doubles my appreciation for the man's mind: I have been watching “Lord of The Rings”, it sometimes helps to have a familiar film I can ignore playing in the background as I try to wring fresh chord progressions from the guitar, my mind momentarily distracted by hobbits and orcs. But something bothers me. The bit where Frodo visits Cate Blanchet who is Queen of something or other in some woody bit of Middle Earth ( you may have gathered by now that I’m not an expert) – anyway, she is momentarily tempted by the ring, and she goes all scary and her eyes look like mine in the morning, then she calms down, considers the little hobbit be...
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A Semi-Stream-of-Consciousness Reflection on the Near Future or This Is Atypically Personal or possibly In Lieu of A Year In Review Growing older typically comes in steps. Birthdays arrive in regular intervals to warn you that you are one year closer to dying. Periodic visits to an optometrist always come with the news that your eyes are just a little bit worse this time - probably just enough to require a change in prescription. Every oil change is 3,000 fewer miles left on your vehicle's engine. Then there are bigger, one-time-only steps. -You buy your first vehicle. -You have your first drink. -You go to college. * -You get married. -You buy a house. On and on and on. Sometimes there are bursts of steps all at once, a staccato burst of action not unlike the opening beats of "15 Step." I find that this is one of those times. Schools...
The 2007 Ho Media Awards Still Bringing You the Best Since 2002 If this ceremony was still only about music, I would say that this was the year of indie/alternative rock. Those who have said that I refuse to stray too far from those bands who idolize Oasis need only spin Feist's new album to realize that they are wrong. This was probably obvious to those of you who have followed the HMA's for any length of time, since this year I decided to broaden the number of awards to be given out when I first listed the nominations in November. Website of the Year - www.kingdomofloathing.com Let's face it: one month of playing this game and it will own your soul. I've been playing for two and a half years. You do the math. (Seriously, because I'm rather sick of doing math.) Book of the Year - Scott Lynch's The Lies of Locke Lamora I'll admit it: I'm a hardcore fantasy/speculative fiction fan. Until this year, I'd never met a writer who could mix a good...
The 2007 HMA Nominations or Right On Time, As Always Going in to this year, I didn't expect these awards to be so difficult. Then I discovered a few thousand new bands and things got hairy. It can't be avoided any longer - the mainstream and indie "Song/Album of the Year" categories have to diverge. The line is fine in some cases; don't leave irritating messages about how you think Wilco should be considered mainstream: these decisions are final. I'm also thinking about an additional modification to the normal award format, so when the awards arrive during the first week of January, brace yourselves. One further note: these are all fantastic achievements in their respective media formats. I'd encourage all of you to check out each of them Song of the Year [Mainstream] All U Can Eat ~ Ben Folds Kiwi ~ Maroon 5 Atlantic ~ Keane The Little Things Give You Away ~ Linkin Park Reckoner ~ Radiohead Song of the Year [Indie] Culling of the Fold ~ The Decembe...
2007 Snow Contest or This Should Have Been Posted Sooner Some of you might have already seen snow this year. I noticed that northeastern Indiana received some flurries yesterday morning. But remember: you're aiming to pick the day on which it first snows here in Indianapolis. Get in your votes - early voters get best pick of the days! Leave your pick in the comment box.
Tell Me Something I Don't Know or No, Seriously, Tell Me I really shouldn't complain much when a professor in graduate school goes to great lengths to prove exceptionally easy facts. The catch to this scenario is that it rarely ever happens: there are no exceptionally easy facts in any graduate math course. Anyone who has spoken to me of grad school knows that I pull my hair out over some of the crazy things that these people do at the chalkboard (and then expect us to follow with smiles and nods). But last week was different. Maybe the cold snap got to my analysis professor's brain. It didn't have much hair to push through, so I really believe this to be the cause of the mind-numbing stupidity that he vomited onto our impressionable young minds. In essence, he proved 1 + 1 = 2. At first I was stunned. What could I make of this fact? What sort of history-changing applications could I find for this incredible breakthrough? Would solving this problem at math cockt...